Tuesday, April 29, 2014

I was giving a few small baby quilts to finish this week, there seems to be a lot of babies arriving this month in town. The first one is Sandy’s and she made this top with a few non-quilters but I would have never known if she didn't tell me. The pattern is called The Amazing Jelly Roll Quilt by the Three Dudes, there is a YouTube video by Missouri Quilt Companyhere. I did freehand 3’s and E’s in a light yellow So Fine thread. Yellow must be my thread of choice these days!
This next one is Crystal’s and she wanted light custom and puffy! I used Dream Puff batting and she brought a Polar Fleece backing. I don’t mind Polar Fleece on small quilts but it is too stretchy for larger one. It is so nice to see my rocks again, the snow has been disappearing fast now that we are getting 12’ highs.
And I wanted to share one more thing with you, today is my husbands 50th birthday!! I can’t believe he is 50, he really doesn’t look it at all in my eyes! We were able to celebrate Tim’s birthday a few weeks ago when we were in Winnipeg with family and here is my favourite picture from that day. Happy Birthday Tim!

Sunday, April 27, 2014

Well another guild Quilt Show has come and gone and if you ask any member or anyone that attended they would say it was a great success! For our little town area of 5,000 it is amazing how many quilters live here. We had 150 quilts on display, our attendance and ticket sales were the highest they have ever been. But I have to say my favourite part was when my friend Lori, the other half of Highway 10 Designs, arrived on Friday to spend the weekend here and see the show. It was fun just hanging out with her and helping others pick fabric for their projects as we spent most of our time at Mami’s Country Quilt’s booth. We both use to work at the local fabric shop but it close 5 years ago so that was fun to do again. Here is the pictures of the booth…we gave them the whole stage in the hall. They did an amazing job setting up their displays and drove 6 hours to come to our show!

Here is the view of the show from the stage.

When we put on our first quilt show 16 years ago we had 6 custom quilt ‘trees’ made to hang the large quilts and those are placed in the center of the hall. We also had a cable attached the one wall of the hall and that holds all the smaller bed quilts so I’m glad that is still there! Four years ago we had 4 frames made that hold 6 lap quilts each. The hall supplies the white pegboards that are perfect for our wall hangings and baby quilts.

Along with our main raffle quilt we had three more quilts and a handmade quilt rack for raffle. I ran around and took pictures before it got busy!

We also had a display of our guilds Comfort quilts that we donate to the community. The two quilts hanging are guild members quilt not comfort quilts, we hang quilts where ever we are able too! :)

And here is our Paint Chip Challenge display. We had a total of 21 members participate and for a guild of 54 members that is a pretty good percentage. We attached each members paint chip sample card to the quilts story card so viewers could see what colors they had to work with.

So the show is over and I didn’t come home with raffle quilt like in 2012, (see story here) so I guess it’s time to get back to work and get some quilting done.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

It’s been a busy week getting ready for our guilds Quilt Show that starts on Friday. Above is the poster I made for our show and displays our Raffle quilt. I have remade all our name tags, entered all the quilt show entry forms into spread sheets, and printed off all the Story cards that get pinned to the quilts. Had a few friends over to help cut out all the Story cards and brain storm about a few display posters we needed to make for the show. Also organised all the entries by size and location to where they will hang so *fingers crossed* that job goes smoothly!
I wanted to share more pictures of our Raffle Quilt “Cattails in the Meadow” with you again as it will be drawn for on Saturday! These pictures were taking back in the fall when I quilted it.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

This is Rae’s Jelly Roll Race quilt and she used a Gemstones pack called Coastal Bliss. The fabrics have images of killer whales, eagles, feathers and trees so has a great Canadian West Coast feel. I used the Tickle panto with a medium blue So Fine thread and Quilters Dream Blend batting.

The backing is a gorgeous green Minkie.

Finally getting up to 10’c during the day and the snow is melting fast! Happy Dance!

Friday, April 18, 2014

This is Sandra’s Strawberry quilt that she made for her daughter who is excepting her second baby any day now! The pattern is called Strawberry Social by the Pattern Basket but you can buy it as a kit with these fabrics from Fat Quarter shop here. They call the kit Strawberry Shortcake. Sandra loves lots of quilting on her quilts and said “quilt it flat!” That is always fun to do on a small quilt. :)

Sandra loves feather so I quilted feathers going clockwise in the outer border and counter-clockwise in the inner border. Then feathers in the sashing columns, alternating directions. Did a simple wavy design on the strawberries and used three different pink threads to match the colours in the strawberries. Did leaves in the green stems and curls in the background. In the small horizontal sashing I did the Onions and Garlic design, one of my favourites as it is fun to quilt.

The backing is really cute too!

Managed to get one ice picture as it is still getting down to –10’c at night but suppose to get up to +3’ today. It’s very windy so I was very lucky to get his shot! If your wondering how much snow we still have this should answer that!

Our guild Quilt Show is on April 25 and 26 so I have been busy getting ready for that this week so haven’t done much quilting. Next week will get even crazier but I will share pictures of the show. We have 165 quilts entered and it makes for a beautiful display in our community hall.

Monday, April 14, 2014

This is Barb’s second Midnight Sun quilt that her mom Marg pieced for her. Actually is it made with the other half of the strip sets that she used to make the first quilt I posted here. With this pattern you end up with two quilts that look completely different. Here is the side by side comparison…they are made using the same strips sets just cut at the opposite angles. Wow eh!

Barb’s son asked for this quilt and now has to decided which one he wants. I hear he is leaning towards this new one as he loves bold bright colors.

The pattern is from the Nov/Dec issues of Love of Quilting magazine.

The backing is a bright red flannel and I used Quilters Dream Blend batting. The thread is a very bright Yellow So Fine as Barb wanted the quilting to show in the outer border. The panto is Fascination.

Friday, April 11, 2014

This is Trina’s Rhurbarb Pie quilt by Madison Cottage Designs, just the name makes my mouth water! Yummy fabrics! Trina lives down in Kentucky but she use to live in Flin Flon so I am very flattered that she still mails me her quilts to quilt for her. The original pattern was for a 72” x72” size quilt and she ask from my help to make the pattern 90”x100” and we figured it out.

She asked for a panto design in the center and custom border. I used the Rhapsody panto for the center and a leaf design in the border. Quilters Dream Blend batting and Yellow So Fine thread. You may be wondering why yellow as the quilt is mainly a light green but the yellow looks like green on the green fabrics and pink on the pink fabrics. I always spend time auditioning different colors of threads on the quilt top before I start as I am always surprised at what color works…its never my first thought!

Today was a perfect day to take a quilt out on the lake as it is –16’ this morning. It was melting yesterday but now that it has frozen again I can easily walk on top of the snow so made laying out the quilt a breeze! Yesterday when I tried to walk down to the lake every step I took I was breaking though the packed snow and stumbling all over, my husband even got his car stuck in our driveway as it had a foot of slush on it!

The little ice rink was full of water yesterday from the melting snow but is now frozen over again. As you can see it is now smaller than Trina’s quilt! When I was in Winnipeg last week at the Quilt Show I found out from a vendors that sells our Highway 10 patterns that I am known as the ‘quilter who takes quilt pictures in the snow.’ I think I have a few more weeks of being that quilter…wonder what they call me the rest of the year? :)

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Our guild is very generous with donating quilts to our community. A few years ago we gave quilts to the hospitals dialysis department and we have seen that they have been well used and in need of new quilts. These are just three of the many that will be make there way over to the hospital soon.

This first one is quilted with the Starlight panto and I quilted this one sideways so the pattern runs vertical, not horizontal. The pattern is called Bundle of 12 – Treetops.

I remember this one was going to be a Bento Box quilt but the Key Lime batik bundle didn’t look very good in that pattern….or so the quilt member who donated this top to the guild said! :) She used the quarter sections of the blocks to create this original design. The panto is Plush.

The last quilt was made using the Bundle of 12 pattern and I used the Feather Curls panto. All the quilts have Dream Blend batting and Ultra Cuddle on the backing. For the record I hate Ultra Cuddle as it is not really meant to be used for quilt backs like Cuddle is, I don’t mind quilting with Cuddle/Minkie. I did a rant on Ultra Cuddle a few months ago and complained about how stretchy it is but that was after the guild ordered two bolts of it! So this week I tackled this icky job to get it over with, the ladies at the guild owe me big time! :)

Great news….the snow is melting!! Its +9’c and the sun is now shining! The snow might be gone by the end of the month if we are lucky!

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About Me

I have been quilting for over 20 years and have turned my passion for quilting into a home business. Tamarack Shack Longarm Quilting opened it's doors January 2009 on the shores of Schist Lake in Northern Manitoba. I have recently moved to Emo, ON and looking forward to discovering all the beauty of the area and meeting new quilters.
This blog is where I share photos of my quilts as well as my clients quilts. I also enjoy dyeing fabric especially snow dyeing as we have snow 6 months of the year. I have thrown in few personal stories about living on the shores of Schist Lake and now I'm ready to explore and share photos of the area around Emo, Ontario as life isn't all about quilting.
Please feel free to contact me at tamarackshack1@gmail.com